


I've Always Known How Badly I Wanted That - Reddie

by sweetpeacheddie



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Cute, Fluff, M/M, and eddie is head over heels, basically richie is a big gay mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetpeacheddie/pseuds/sweetpeacheddie
Summary: Eddie comforts Richie after the Losers find out about a certain rumour that Henry Bowers has been spreading around.





	I've Always Known How Badly I Wanted That - Reddie

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone has any requests they want me to do, you can drop them in my tumblr ask http://sweetpeacheddie.tumblr.com/ask

Eddie could see it clear as day: how Richie was slowly distancing himself from the group, and how, when he did hang out with the losers, his jokes were getting more and more frequent. The rest of the losers couldn’t see it as well as Eddie could, but they just didn’t know the older boy the way that Eddie did.

It was a Friday afternoon and the losers were doing what they had been doing every Friday since they met: sitting by the quarry in a circle, passing around bags of lollies, making up jokes, and telling each other stories from their week at school.

Everyone was sitting criss-cross on the small rocks by the water, dust and dirt spread all over their legs. Eddie, though he was sat in the same position, had a towel placed underneath him to avoid anything out of the ordinary touching his skin.

“Did you guys hear that rumour that Henry spread around?” Beverly said, her head turning side to side and looking at each person in the group.

Richie kept his head down, staring at his hands in his lap as if he’d never seen anything more interesting in his entire life. However the rest of the group all shook their heads no and motioned for Beverly to continue.

“He’s been telling everyone that he read Richie’s journal and in it he said he was gay!”

“What!?” Ben exclaimed. “What a stupid rumour!”

The rest of the group nodded their heads and laughed along, yet Richie simply didn’t move once. Eddies giggles slowed down when he noticed this, and he moved closer to Richie.

“Hey, it’s just a dumb thing that Henry made up,” Eddie said as he placed a hand on Richie’s knee, attempting to cheer the older boy up. “No one believes it, don’t worry!”

“Yeah, man,” Mike jumped in. “None of us believe the shit that comes out of Bowers’ mouth.”

Richie’s head snapped up and he stared intently at Mike. The look on his face wasn’t happiness like Mike was expecting, however it wasn’t a look of sadness or anger either. Simply a look. And as fast as his head has risen, Richie was up and running through the trees and out into the street.

“Well, th-that was weird,” Bill pointed out. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement except for Eddie. The small boy was still staring at the spot in the trees where Richie has disappeared into, and suddenly it made sense. Why Richie hardly ever hung out with everyone anymore. And why, when he did, he was so far away, like he wasn’t even listening to what people were saying. He’d just crack his inappropriate jokes, then leave as fast as he had arrived.

But Eddie had put it together. It was true - the rumour. It was the only explanation.

“I’ll get him,” Eddie said quickly. He didn’t bother waiting for anyone to protest and he dashed off into the trees in search of his friend.

As he exited the trees, he was expecting to have to run all over town in an attempt to find Richie. What Eddie wasn’t expecting though, was for Richie to be sat on the pavement directly across the road. He had his knees shoved underneath his chin, his hands pressed into his face and a pair of violently shaking shoulders.

Well, this was certainly a sight that Eddie had never seen in all his years of knowing Richie. Richie was the smart ass kid who had a comeback for everything. He didn’t get sad. He didn’t storm off. And he certainly didn’t cry. Ever.

Eddie looked both ways numerous time before running across the road. Richie heard the heavy foot steps and gently pulled his hands away from his face. He looked up and saw the smaller boy standing next to him, a look of pure understanding and sympathy plastered all over his soft features.

“It’s not just a rumour, is it?” Eddie whispered as he placed a hand on Richie’s shoulder. As much as he wanted to sit on the pavement next to the sad boy, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how many bugs and dust and dirt were spread all over the cement. He regretted not grabbing his towel before he ran away from the group.

Richie didn’t reply. He simply put his head back in his hands and began sobbing once more.

Eddie didn’t know what to do. He had never been very good at comforting people, let alone comforting a crying Richie of all people.

“Oh, fuck it,” Eddie muttered to himself. He sat down on the pavement, pushing all of those thoughts of germs far into the back of his mind, and pulled Richie’s hands away from his face.

“Do you hate me?” Richie whispered with his head still looking down. It was so soft that Eddie almost didn’t hear. Almost.

“Are you serious?” Eddie said, a defensive chuckle escaping his lips. He reach forward and grabbed Richie’s face in his small hands. “There will never be a single moment in time where I will hate you. Ever. Do you hear me?”

Richie nodded, and Eddie wiped the tears that were streaming down the older boys’ face.

“That’s why I’ve been avoiding you so much. I didn’t want you to know I liked you,” Richie sniffed.

Eddies eyes widened. Well, he wasn’t expecting that.

“Wha- what did you just say?”

“You didn’t know?” Richie asked. Eddie shook his head, eyes still as big as his face. “Oh. Fuck.”

Eddies hands never left Richie’s face as the tears started to calm down. The feeling of the smaller boys’ finger tips (Jack Dylan) graz(er)ing over his cheeks helped settle the sniffles and soon enough Richie was giggling uncontrollably. Eddie looked back up to Richie, confused thoughts running through his head as he wondered what Richie could possibly be laughing at when this was such a serious time.

“What? What’s so funny?!” Eddie questioned.

“This is just so weird!” Richie giggled. He wrapped his hands around eddies wrists and pecked him on the cheek, a wide smile making its way onto his face as he pulled away. Eddie could still feel the linger of Richie’s soft curls on his face, and shortly after he too was giggling uncontrollably.

Before they knew it, both boys were laying back on the pavement, arms wrapped around their stomachs and howls of laughter erupting from their mouths. The laid there for what felt like forever, chuckling even more when they’d open their eyes and look at each other.

After a few minutes, Eddie opened his eyes at the same time as Richie, yet no sounds came out of either of them. The stayed laying on the footpath, staring into each other eyes until Richie finally leapt up and onto eddies lap so that he was straddling the tiny boy.

“Wha- what are you doing, Rich?” Eddie asked. Richie didn’t say anything. He just put his hands on either side of Eddie’s head, leant down, and gently placed his lips on top of Eddie’s. So light, like a soft breeze washing over them.

Eddie couldn’t believe how right it felt. How nice and how gentle. And he couldn’t believe he was actually kissing back until he grabbed Richie’s plump cheeks and attempted to pull their faces even closer together. If that were at all possible.

They pulled away, foreheads resting against one another’s and hot breaths coming out of their mouths.

“Well, I didn’t know how badly I wanted that until it happened,” Eddie breathed out, a light giggle escaping his lips.

“I’ve always known how badly I wanted that.”


End file.
